Bride Token

Written by Jae C. Henderson April 2020

“Ya know wha dey say happen right?” James offered rhetorically, taking an abnormally long drag from his briarwood pipe. “Word has it that she juss went up and missin’ on her weddin’ nih. Poor fella couldn’ even seal the deal, ya know wha I mean?” He grunted and shook his head to himself, settling back into the porch chair. 

“Well did they ever find out what happened to her?” Brian inquired.

“Dey went lookin’ for ha, but she never turnt up. Some folks say they thought they saw ha down by the river the night of the weddin’, but ain't no tellin’ cause you know there ain't much light 'cept the night sky 'round here.”

“Wow. That's horrible. I couldn't imagine losing my wife on my wedding night.” 

“Mm. Yeah…” James went on without acknowledging Brian’s comment, “some folk say maybe she ran away when she had a chance, ‘cause ya know ol' Clarence was pretty hard on da girl. Ussa beat ha and yell and scream at ha like nobody business. Some folk think maybe she went down by the river ‘cause she had a lil patch of marigolds she liked and the river flooded that night, breakin’ way at the bank and sweepin’ ha in with it.”

“Hmm,” Brian paused inquisitively, “What do you think happened?”

“Me?” James questioned, as he paused from sucking the black stem of his pipe for a moment and turned his head in Brian’s direction to stare at the river in the distance.

“Well, I tell ya what. I don know cause I don meddle in folk business, but this ain't the first time a bride done gone missin' on her weddin’ nih round here. Seem like it happen every blue moon* or so. Always leave folk confused and scared to get married. The mo superstitious folk say issa bitter ol witch who waits ova by the river for engaged folk, demandin’ gifts before their ceremony from the husband. Then if he don pay it, she luhls (lures) the bride into the water and she’s neva seen again.” 

“Do you believe it? That sounds like a crazy old wives tale.”

“Mm. Yeah, I s’pose it does sound a bit like dat huh….” James responded with his pipe clenched between his teeth as he repositioned his old straw hat, “Where you s’pose that word come from? Wives tale.”

And they both fell silent, watching the tall grass sway in the warm, sticky breeze. It wasn’t until then that Brian realized James was nearly 70 years old and had never, to his knowledge, been married.